Author's Note: I tried to limit the military slang but some was inevitable to help the flow of the story. Also, this is a work of fiction!
*****
While running in black shorts and a gray USMC shirt I began to a cadence. "DELAY CADENCE... DELAY CADENCE... DELAY CADENCE... COUNT," I yelled while singing my voice.
"ONE," the group of Marines running with me screamed.
"CAN'T HEAR YOU," I yelled.
"TWO," they shouted.
"LITTLE LOUDER NOW," I yelled.
"THREE," they yelled back.
"ALL TOGETHER THEN," I yelled.
"FOUR," they yelled.
"EVERYBOOOOOODY," I yelled.
"ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS," we shouted in unison.
I couldn't help but smile, it was an early spring morning, the air was cool, crisp and clean. Sixty Marines ran in tight formation next to me, four rows of black and gray clad Marines almost half-way through a 5-mile run to begin their day. The cadence was one of my favorites and never failed to get the Marines worked up.
We were sweating, pushing ourselves and loving every second of it. We are Marines, pushing ourselves is what we do. If there are two paths to take, damned if we won't take the most miserable one, just to know we can do it.
As we reached our turn around point I yelled to the formation.
"All right, break it up, head back to headquarters at your own pace, last five run an extra mile!"
That comment never failed to inspire extra effort in everyone. Nobody wanted to be last, especially when it meant you had to run extra. It wouldn't matter to me because I would take the final five on the extra run myself. Still, I pushed myself to run faster. At 35 years old I couldn't beat some of the "rabbits" as we called our fastest runners, but I could make most of them try harder. Sometimes it isn't about being in the lead, it's about making them push themselves. With the average age of the platoon around 23 years old, nobody wanted to be beat by someone more than ten years older than them.
Steadying my breathing, concentrating on my steps, I began to fall into a rhythm. I let everything else drop to background senses. All I could feel was the road under my feet, the breeze on my skin and my breath steadily exhaling. I increased my pace slightly, more than half the group was behind me. I began to increase my speed again. I passed another small group. Noticing one Marine that I knew ran faster than me I pulled up next to him.
"Corporal Johnson," I said between breaths. "You have ten seconds to get ahead of me, after that if I lay a hand on you I swear I will have you running until you puke, cry, or passout!"
He gave me a startled look and bolted away from the pack he'd been running with. He knew I was serious from past experience. I smiled as I watched his lanky frame run away, he was one of my favorites but I'd never let him know it.
Again I fell to concentrating on my pace, at 6'0" I had a long stride and my 190 pound frame held very little fat. With a mile left I was in the top one third, I glanced behind me, most of the Marines were stretched out within a quarter mile, they were really pushing themselves today. As we rounded the final bend in the road I could see the finish line. I increased my pace from a jog to a sprint. A few of the faster runners heard the increase and looked behind them, seeing me running full speed, they began to run faster. Soon the whole pack was running full speed toward the finish line. I yelled out.
"Johnson, I coming for you goddammit, your ass is mine!"
I was nowhere near him and had no prayer of catching him at full speed but it was gratifying to see his pace increase even more. I laughed despite the fact that my lungs were on fire. As we all began to cross the finish line I counted the ones ahead of me. Fifteen, not bad I thought as I tried to catch my breath. Everyone was gasping and holding their sides or just sat down and sipped from water bottles we had left next to the starting/ ending point.
"Make sure you drink... you need to hydrate... control your breathing," I walked around giving advice to the Marines between gasps of air, my shirt was drenched in sweat. "Good job... hell of an effort... keep it up, you did great..."
I noticed a Marine run from the company office.
"Gunny, the CO need's you," he said.
"Damn... all right, looks like the final five get a reprieve, no extra running, everybody go shower and be back in an hour," I said.
Cheers greeted this statement and the Marines began to disburse back to their barracks. I walked into the company office.
"Gunny," my CO barked as soon as I walked in. "Meet Gunnery Sergeant Kim Stevens, she's our new Motor-T chief."
I looked at the dark haired female dressed in her alpha uniform. My CO kept speaking.
"Gunny Dawson, take her around, show her the layout. You need anything Gunny Stevens you just let me or Dawson here know, k?"
"Thank you sir," she replied.
"Anytime, I got a meeting to go to so I'll see you all later," he said as he walked out the door.
She stuck out her hand.
"I would but I'm all sweaty," I said as I looked at her hand.
"Doesn't bother me," she smiled.
I took her hand and we shook, I looked into her eyes, they were a very light gray, almost silver. It gave her an ethereal look.
"Wow, are those contacts?" I asked.
Laughing, "No, I get that a lot, they're my real color. Cool huh?" she said.
"Very," I said. "I bet when you get mad you look downright evil."
She laughed, "You have no idea," she replied.
"About the evil or mad?" I asked.
"Both!"
I laughed.
Getting down to business, "Well, obviously we're in the company office, my office is through those doors," I said pointing. "Office showers and bathrooms are behind us, so we can clean up after PT."
She nodded as I talked, we walked side-by-side through the building and I pointed out the various offices. Every so often we looked at each other as I pointed out something, discreetly I also kept glancing at her out of the corner of my eyes. Our uniforms can hide a woman's figure but it was unmistakable that she had a large chest. As best I could tell she had to be a D cup.
"Well, that's the tour so far, there are a few other places I'll take you to on base but first I need to go take a shower, then we'll go ok?" I asked.
Her eyes suddenly scowled, "You don't waste anytime do you? We just met and you're asking me to shower?" she asked. I was startled, I hadn't meant to imply anything but obviously my words had come out wrong. She was glaring at me and at the moment she really did look evil.
Thoughts of sexual harassment flew through my head, "Holy shit... I am so sorry, that came out wrong I really wasn't..."
She cut me off mid-sentence, "I'm just messing with you, calm down," she laughed.
Sighing in relief, "That was not funny," I said.
"Actually it really was," she kept laughing. "So tell me, did I look evil?"
"Very," I said. "Remind me not to fuck with you!"
She continued to laugh.
"Ok, now that we got that out of the way, how bout that shower?" she asked.
My eyes went wide, "Uhhh...."
She started laughing again, nodding her head she turned and walked away. "Too easy," I heard her mutter. "Way too easy... I'll see you in an hour," she said looking back at me.